Teaching kids to consume

Are
all the commercial messages kids are bombarded with today having any
noticeable negative effects? And if so what can a concerned parent like
me do to limit my own kids’ exposure to so much advertising and
marketing?

- Jason Baldino, Somerset, NJ.

No doubt, marketers are hard at work targeting our children with their messages and creating young demand for their products. Companies in the U.S. today spend some $17 billion yearly advertising to children, a 150fold increase from just a few decades ago. Some cashstrapped school districts have even started selling ads on and sometimes in their school buses as a way to bolster sagging education budgets. To be an American kid today is to be bombarded with marketing messages and sales pitches. It’s no wonder, given the amount of advertising and marketing they endure, young people in our society are experiencing record levels of obesity and problems with credit card debt.

According to the nonprofit Center for a New American Dream (CNAD), a leading proponent for more ecologically sustainable and community - oriented lifestyles in the United States, this incessant marketing is turning our children “into little consumers, alienating them from nature, getting them used to unhealthy diets filled with junk foods, and making them want ever more stuff.” The group points to several disturbing studies, such as one that shows how U.S. children can recognize more Pokemon characters than common wildlife
species, while another found the average American kid is exposed to more
than 25,000 television ads spanning some 10,700 minutes over the course
of just one year.

The
result of all this aggressive marketing to kids is not just excessive
materialism and obesity, but also a host of other problems including
depression, anxiety, low selfesteem, eating disorders, increased
violence, and family stress. “Economically, societally and
ecologically,” CNAD reports, “this is unsustainable and not the best
path for children.”

Against
this backdrop of media and marketing saturation, what can be done to
help steer our kids in a more healthy direction? Given that shielding
American kids from these messages would be nearly impossible, the next
best thing is teaching them how to parse through the different come-ons
and solicitations they are exposed to these days at nearly every turn.
CNAD’s free, downloadable 32-page booklet “Tips for Parenting in a
Commercial Culture” offers loads of useful information on how to limit
kids’ exposure to commercial influences that come via the television,
computer or mail slot, and replacing those lost hours with new
opportunities for more beneficial activities. Examples abound: playing
board or card games, going on a walk or hike, riding bikes, and much
more. The booklet also elaborates on how to limit or rid commercial
influences in schools and other places where kids spend time away from
home.

Another great
resource for parents and teachers looking to reduce commercial
influences on kids is the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a
coalition of more than two dozen other groups started by consumer
advocate and author Susan Linn. The coalition advocates for the adoption
of government policies that limit corporate marketers’ access to kids
and works to mobilize parents, educators and health care providers to
stop the commercial exploitation of children. Teachers love the
coalition’s free downloadable Guide to Commercial-Free Book Fairs while
concerned parents can download the Guide to Commercial-Free Holidays in
order to help themselves and their kids resist the hype.

CONTACTS: Center for a New American Dream, www.newdream.org;
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, www.
commercialfreechildhood.org. EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy
Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The
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